First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3 (87 page)

              The man blinked at him.  “That was a very direct answer.”

              Chakrabarti smiled at him.  “I find that it saves time.  We did not come here to attack your people, as I said, we came here to try and open up a dialogue with your government.  We also come here with cargo ships full of goods to sell.”  The station master’s eyes lit up at that admission.  “And I can assure you, that we did not bring weapons, explosives or illegal drugs and those ships will allow your inspection teams to come aboard.”

              The man looked confused, blinking a lot.  “Those cargo ships are not loaded with troops?”

              The councilor chuckled.  “I know that this looked very much like an invasion of your star system, sir, but I can assure you that this was not the case.”

              The station master was clearly still suspicious.  But after a long moment, he spoke.  “If your cargo ships are willing to submit to inspection and assuming that my teams do not find any weapons or contraband, then they are welcome here.”

              “My warships will hold position away from the station,” Chakrabarti continued.  “We will continue with our weapons powered down unless we are threatened and I thank you for your assistance in this matter, sir.  I apologize again for the inconvenience.”

              The station master grunted and then nodded.  “Keep your warships under control, Councilor.  If you could bring your cargo vessels in to the station, they are cleared for docking.  Have the individual ship Reigans contact me for docking instructions and if needed, we can have tugs provided to bring them in.”  The man looked down, probably at another monitor.  “The fee will be three hundred and fifty local credits.  Each.”

              “I don’t believe that will be necessary,” he replied, his smile feeling less forced and more genuine now.  “Our ships will be able to dock with the station without problems and again, I appreciate your help.”

              The man looked as though he was trying to decide whether to be aggravated or pleased.  He settled on professional.  “Glad to be of service.  Just make sure that your warships don’t cause any problems and they stay out of the restricted traffic lanes.”

              “I assure you, we will.”  And the station master ended the call.

              “And they complied?” Nikolas asked.

              “Partially, Mister President,” the station master answered.  As he saw his Commander-in-Chief starting to turn red, he quickly continued.  “The Councilor as well as the ship’s commander refused to allow our armed inspection teams aboard their warships.  Any of them.  They also refused to dock those warships at the station.  But,” he said as it looked as though the President was going to interrupt, “The freighters have moved in for docking at the station and
those
ships have complied with my security inspection teams.  They’ve paid the docking fees as well as air fees.  I’ve had no problems with the crews of those ships.  It’s actually refreshing, considering how outsiders normally behave at the docks.”

              Nikolas frowned, considering what he’d just been told.  “And the cargo?”

              “A lot of high-end electronics, as well as machined parts, power conduits, hyperdrive parts, sensor dishes, communications arrays, all of which are of excellent quality, Mister President.”

              He blinked.  “That’s astonishing.  They brought all this tech for trade?”

              “Yes, sir, that’s what they’re saying.  I’ve got buyers that are fighting tooth and nail for this stuff on the board.  The prices for their goods are twenty-two percent higher than projections and I believe at least three of the businesses that are buying up those goods are clamoring for more.  I think there are going to be several more runs for these goods from Seylonique.”

              “I see.”  He took a deep breath and then let it slowly out.  “I believe it is time that I spoke with this councilor face to face.”

              “Absolutely not!”  Koton’s mandibles were clacking and the rest of his mouthparts were writhing, clearly showing his distaste for this idea, despite the fact that the t-pack emitted a monotone voice for him.  “You will not be flying over to that ship, even with an armed escort.  We need to keep any meetings with them in an environment that we control.  And if we have their delegates either on the orbital station or down on the planet, their warships will be reluctant to attack us.”

              Nikolas nodded.  “That seems like a reasonable precaution.  That way, we can also control the environment for these talks.”

              The bug stopped short.  “Wait, you intend to continue with this farce?  Once we have their delegates in a secure location,
we
will control how this goes.”

              The president gave him an annoyed look.  “The fact that their ships are in orbit of the planet means they could orbitally bombard our cities with impunity, Koton.  Our ships could fight them, but they couldn’t win.  Or not before at least one of our cities was obliterated.”  The Ulla-tran system had a high population, at least for worlds out in the Argos Cluster.  Fifty million people were living on the planet on two continents, as well as a few thousand people out on some of the archipelagos.  There were a number of decent-sized cities, industrial complexes all sorts of things that were vulnerable to attack.  “I intend to go through with this, Koton,” Nikolas said firmly.  “If there is even a remote chance that they are on the level, I’m going to risk it.”

              “We are doing this under threat,” the zheen declared. 

              Nikolas shrugged.  “We are beyond choice right now, Koton.  Their ships are already well within striking range of our vitals.  Of the planet, of the orbital, of our people.  We can’t change that now.  Even if we tried to hold
their
people hostage, it wouldn’t protect ours.  We both have knives poised at the others vitals so now we are committed.”

              Koton hissed.  “I do not like this style of negotiations.”

              “Well I don’t like it either. But we have to get past that.”  He sighed heavily.  “I
am
going to speak with these people face to face.  I’ve had several conversations with their leader, and he seems genuinely invested in this.  I’m hoping that he can deliver on what they promise.”

              “What have they promised?” the zheen asked, interested, despite himself.

              “So far?  Nothing.  But we haven’t done much more than the preliminaries.  The leader spoke about his system and what they had to offer, all of which sounds, well, promising.  I want to hear what they have to say.”  He glared at the zheen.  “And since the majority of the council already agree, you need to take your resentment and bury it.”  Koton hissed again, but Nikolas talked over him.  “No, Koton, enough.  I understand your concerns and to a degree I agree with them.  But now you’re just whining like a petulant child.  So, are you going to accompany me to what might be the biggest and most important task of your professional life, Koton?  Or am I going to instruct the guards to make sure that you are barred from the orbital?”

              “You wouldn’t dare.”

              “Are we really going to have that discussion, Koton?  I know you are a member of the governing council, but
I
am President of that council by acclaim.  I maintain a healthy approval rating and the majority of our peers want me in the job.  You are among the most junior of our peers.”

              More hissing.  “I understand.  You do not need to humiliate me further by sending me down to the planet.  I will join you in the meetings.”  He waggled his antennae.  “Someone needs to be sure that you stay honest.”

              Nikolas couldn’t help a chuckle.  “Glad to have you on board.”

              They sat there for a moment, until Koton spoke again.  “What about Hana?”

              The president sighed.  “What about Hana?”

              “You know he is going to want to be involved in any serious trade negotiations, Mister President,” Koton pointed out.  “And with his stranglehold on all of the fuel in this system, he has the ability to force us to comply.”

              Nikolas rubbed his forehead, feeling a class-five headache coming on.  “We don’t know anything about these people!  We need to tread carefully with this and we don’t need his ham-fisted way of doing things!  He could derail this whole summit!”

              “We cannot exclude him,” Koton replied.  “He might not be a part of the council, but he is a significant force in this system.”  The zheen leaned an arm against the desk, trying to get more comfortable, but the amount of movement in his antennae betrayed that.  “But you are right, he would be a significant disruption.”

              “But if we do exclude him and he shows up anyway, he would ruin anything we might have built.”  Nikolas sighed heavily.  There was really no way around it though.  Koton was right, Hana, the bastard, with his fueling station and his monopoly on He3 fuel here in this system had the ability to insinuate himself into the political situation here.  He gritted his teeth.  “I’ll send him a message.  He can decide how he’s going to respond.”

              Chakrabarti looked up from the communications console in the conference room.  The
Leytonstone
was a big ship, but it was stuffed to the gills with crewmen and Army troopers and as such there was a premium on space.  The trio of councilors had taken over the Flag Conference room to use as a base of operations, which strangely, didn’t bother Colonel Gants all that much.  As far as the colonel was concerned, if keeping them cooped up in his conference room would keep them out of his hair, it was a small price to pay for peace of mind – happily paid.

              “So, it appears that we’re going forward with the negotiations,” he said to his colleagues.  He felt a cautious smile spread over his face.  “It’s a first step.  It won’t be the easiest but it’s a first.”

              “Good!” Kly exclaimed.  “But where are they holding this summit?  Here on the
Leytonstone
?”

              “No.  We’re going over to the orbital station.  There are a set of conference suites there that can be utilized.”  Chakrabarti pressed a control and one of the side displays on the bulkhead lit up, showing several large rooms.  “I think it will be adequate for our needs.”

              “How many aides will we be allowed?” Kly demanded.  “I only brought two, but I’m sure we could borrow some of the people from the ship’s legal department if we need more.”

              “We’re going to bring a few of the ship’s Army contingent for protection, but other than that, just our two aides each.”  He could see Kly’s unhappiness, but he pressed on.  “I want this to be about getting this treaty signed, not about who’s entourage is bigger.”

              “Understood,” the other man replied, grimacing. 

              Arathos started gathering up data cards and putting them into a folio.  “We’ve come a long way for this.  It’s incredible that the day has finally arrived.”

              “Don’t get too excited,” Kly cautioned.  “As he just said, this is a first step.  Which means that the first few sessions are going to be difficult.  Everyone’s going to be feeling each other out, testing the waters.”  He sighed.  “I’d be surprised if anything of significance gets accomplished.  Hell, I’d be surprised if we can manage even a few hours before the meeting breaks up.”

              “Well, then we just do the best we can,” the lupusan said, nodding.  He turned to glare at Kly.  “And despite the uphill climb that we have before us, I am confident that we will be able to hammer something out.”

              Chakrabarti flicked his eyes from one of his colleagues to the other.  “Yes.  I believe you’re right.  What should be the first order of business?  Safety of travel?  Licensing?  Trade goods?”

              “I’m thinking that trade goods should be the first item,” Kly replied, leaning forward, putting a hand on the table.  “We need to establish why it is that we want to be trading with these people in the first place.  What do they need?  What do we have?  What do they have?”

              The conversation struck back up, going back over issues and items of interests that they had been discussing for the last month.

              Leicasitaj watched as the string of cargo ships moved in, docking with the orbital station.  He’d been monitoring over the last few days, while the Seylonique space defense force ships escorted them the rest of the way in.  Once the ships were docked, the destroyers and corvettes moved into a loose bowl formation, keeping themselves close enough to cover the freighters but far enough out that they wouldn’t interrupt the local traffic patterns. 
Leytonstone
had moved into a high orbit of the planet, still close enough to cover the other ships in the flotilla, and to be in easy shuttle range of the orbital. 

              Leicasitaj, however, on orders from Colonel Gants had been sent out to five light seconds from the rest of the ships, below the plane of the ecliptic.  Gants had made it quite clear that he didn’t need an “outside contractor” interfering with this mission and Leicasitaj and
Mondragon
were to move off from the station to keep an eye on things from further out.  To be fair, it
was
an important task keeping watch for other ships that might be entering the system, but moving out a few more light seconds wouldn’t provide that much more lead time than the ships hanging around at the orbital.  The Romigani was convinced that the colonel only wanted to keep the FP ship away from the regular SDF vessels.  Perhaps he was still bitter over the drubbing that Leicasitaj had taken part in giving him.